18-year-old California man confesses to molesting more than 50 kids over several years

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. - An 18-year-old California man admitted to his mother he had molested 8-and 4-year-old boys in a motel - a confession that led to him being arrested and charged Saturday after also admitting to molesting more than 50 kids over several years, authorities said.

Since the age of 10, Joseph Hayden Boston had molested dozens of other children in different cities where he's lived, according to the Riverside Police Department. Police said Boston admitted to the alleged crimes that occurred in his prior home cities of Lakewood and Buena Park, according to KTLA.

Joseph Boston, 18, is seen in a photo released by the Riverside Police Department on Dec. 2, 2017.

But the discovery of this alleged abuse only came to light after Boston had told his mother about it, police said.

At about 3 a.m. on Saturday, Boston's mother went to the Magnolia Avenue Police Station and flagged down a Riverside police sergeant. She wanted to turn in her son after he had confessed to molesting two young children, police said.

She later picked up her son and took him to the police station, where he confessed before officers.

Boston said he had been staying at a motel. There, he "befriended" an 8-year-old boy and 4-year-old boy who were staying at the motel with their parents, police said in a news release.

"The children were allowed to go into the suspect’s room last night when the molestation occurred," police said in a news release on Saturday.

Just "hours later," police said, Boston called his mother and told her what he'd just done.

He admitted to sexually assaulting the two little boys inside his motel room, police said. But his confession didn't stop there, as he also told authorities he'd actually molested "upwards of 50 children," police said in a news release, with the abuse happening over a span of at least eight years and in various cities.

Boston was charged with counts of oral copulation on a child under the age of 10. His bail was set at $1 million.

Meanwhile, County of Riverside Child Protective Services took custody of the two boys who Boston told police he molested.

Investigators believe there may be other victims of Boston and are asking anyone with information to contact Detective Paul Miranda at 951-353-7945 or at pmiranda@riversideca.gov.